After a long monotonous seven hours of school, sitting down for a nice relaxing break from the everyday struggle. Picking up the pen and tablet, pencil and paper, or any combination of the two, and resting with a nice drawing or painting… until the mind goes blank and the inspiration is lost. Yep, you’ve got artist’s block.

Artist’s block. It’s a mental traffic jam of ideas and inspiration. In general, it’s a draining period of time. Losing all motivation and inspiration is crushing for an artist, and it’s a merciless place to escape from. Lost in a mentally exhausted void of ideas is an awful experience that, unfortunately enough, happens to almost everyone. Whether it’s a painter, author, songwriter, any form of art has its own respective block to ruin the artist’s day. Or week. Or month. Artist’s blocks can be indefinite, it all depends on how the artist themself deals with it.

Throughout the multitude of ways to break down the block, some are more effective than others. There are those who lose all hope once it hits and think that with time it will disappear from their head. These types of people seem to think that through sheer willpower, inspiration and motivation will seek them out. That’s not how it works. From someone who’s gone through too many art blocks to count, you are the one who has to use that powerful will to push through the blockage and overcome the oppressive obstacles. Others may find the search for definitive determination fruitful, but that also can cause problems for those who fail their quest.

The best and easiest way to overcome any block in creativity is the one everyone is so tired of hearing over and over again. Just practice. It may seem simple-minded and idiotic, but the truth of the matter is that through the power of the mind can one definitively escape the terrifying trial. However; only saying ‘just practice’ is unhelpful to the artist. Some better strategies would be; take 10 or 20 minutes every day and practice your art; find prompts or ideas from others and build off of them; get together with others and brainstorm, work, and help each other out. There’s so many more ways to do so and they are truly so much more helpful than watching and waiting. In the end, you reap what you sow.